American Crime Stories

A/N: After a longer Chapter 9, here a bit shorter Chapter 10 to finish the first story arc which I unofficially had called 'Castle vs 3XK'.

Arc One, Chapter ten

Despite his insistence that he just needed some rest, Castle had to go the hospital to check for a concussion. When Castle was wheeled back into his hospital room, he was greeted by two emotional red-heads. He had called Marcus on the way to the hospital and told him what had happened.

"DAD." "Richard." His daughter ran to him to ensnare him into a big hug, but the wheelchair made it a bit awkward. Alexis stepped aside to let Martha greet her son. "Darling, how are you feeling?" "Yes dad, are you alright?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine." He saw their dubious looks. "Really. I'm a bit banged up and had a dislocated shoulder. That's all. Nothing that a few relaxing days won't heel." This time they believed him that he was physical alright - well, mostly anyway. But both redheads thought that emotionally he wasn't alright and would not be for a while.

"Where is Marcus?" Castle asked them.

"He just stepped out to make some calls. He'll be back in a few minutes." Martha replied.

"Dad, what happened? Uncle Marcus only told us that you had found Tyson and got hurt during the arrest."

Castle sighed. To be honest, he didn't want to talk about what had happened today. However, he knew that they would pester him until he told them the truth. Castle stood up from his wheelchair and went to the windows. Watching out from them, he recounted his harrowing tale. He'd really like to left out the scarier points for their sake (and his), like Tyson's having pictures from inside their home or his threat to have him killed in prison by way of murder-for-hire. But he knew that he couldn't do that. His family was intelligent enough to understand the reasons why he had called in Marcus to protect them. He then told them about calling Agent Shaw, their investigation and how they had found the evidence of his innocence.

"What happened to him?" Martha asked her son. He had hoped that they wouldn't ask but in reality he had known better. So he told them that Tyson had been shot in a fire fight and had fallen down the bridge, not who had been involved. However, both red-heads could hear his trembling voice at the end.

Castle sighed again. He didn't want them to tell anymore. He didn't want to tell his mother and daughter that he had killed someone. It wasn't the fact that he was feeling guilty. He didn't. That was something that was bothering him. He didn't feel guilty at all. Castle didn't know whether the feeling would emerge later or in the coming days, but at the moment he wasn't sorry that he had shot Tyson. However, that was not why he didn't want to tell his family. Truth was, he neither wanted to see their reaction when they learned that he was a killer. Nor did he want to see their pity for having to end someone's life. But he knew that his role would be featured in the news anyway and his family deserved to hear the truth from him. He sighed again and turned to them.

"He was using Jordan, I mean Agent Shaw, as a human shield and threatened to kill her. I have absolutely no doubt that he would have done so. So, I shot him first. I think I emptied the magazine and he fell backwards down the bridge into the river."

"So, is he dead?" Martha asked.

Castle didn't reply immediately, but his family could see the truth. They walked to him and wrapped their arms around him.

"Good." To the elders' surprise, Alexis' voice was full of loathing. She could see their surprise. "Dad, I did see the report on the news about what he had done to Gina. We may have not been as close as friends as we had been before, but we liked each other well enough. I also know that he had killed many women before and I'm sure he would have killed many more. I'm not sorry that he's dead, I'm just sorry he didn't die before he killed Gina and that you were forced to kill him." At the end of her explanation, tears were running down Alexis' face. Castle opened his arms Alexis gladly stepped into them. Castle looked to his mother and opened his arms a bit more. The family of three stood in the hospital room wrapped together in a group hug for a while.

Castle had to spend the rest of the night at the hospital. The next morning he had breakfast together with his family who had brought breakfast from 'Carries'. Alexis was showing him parts of Captain Gates statement after his arrest on a tablet she had brought.

"[…] We have found clear evidence at the crime scene and in Mr. Castle's apartment that point to his guilt. He has no alibi for the time of death."

[…] There is no doubt in my mind that he is guilty.

[…] It's true that the NYPD in general, and the 12th precinct in particular, derived some benefits from Mr. Castle's presence in the past. His portrait of several detectives offered an inside glimpse at the lives of the dedicated law enforcement personnel to a bright audience. However, despite his accolades as an author, Mr. Castle was just an observer who chronicled some investigations led by the trained men and women of the 12th precinct, he is not an officer. Therefore I don't know whether he thought that he could get away with his crime or not, that he was smarter than our trained detectives or not. But look at his history – he spent most of the last decade sitting around thinking about killing people. Look further back, it was reported quite often that he comes from a broken home with an itinerant mother and several step-fathers. He was expelled multiple times from various schools. Money at a young age, early parenthood and two wrecked marriages. He even has several small offences. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I'd say that Mr. Castle has some psychological problems."

"Wow. I knew that she didn't like me, but, wow…" Castle said to his family.

"I don't know what that woman was thinking." Martha said angrily.

"Well, she's not totally wrong, is she?" The others looked at him. "Well, mother. We did travel a lot in my childhood, I did attend various schools, I did have early success, and two failed marriages."

"Maybe, dad. But what have you done that she dislikes you so much?"

"Well, we started on the wrong foot when she came to the precinct. It got worse after that. We had our first dispute on her first day. She hadn't been at the precinct long when she told me that I were no longer welcome at the precinct and then ordered me to leave. I think she felt humiliated after I called Bob to get back to work in the 12th. I had just undermined her authority at 12th precinct and everybody at the precinct knew it. In hindsight I could have handled that better."

"But you also showed that you could help, but that didn't make her ease up on you." Alexis said

"Darling, what are you going to do about her?"

Castle thought about that for a moment and then came to a decision. "Nothing." The others looked at him surprised.

"Look, anything I do or say now will make the situation even worse. Don't forget that I escaped the precinct on her personal watch. And then helped to find Gina's real killer in less than a day. That and her own statements will come back to haunt her without me doing anything. I am pretty sure when all the facts about last night come to light, she will have to answer some pretty difficult questions from the brass and the press." Martha and Alexis nodded.

"Speaking of press. I called Paula, she is working on a press statement together with media department of the FBI and the hospital. We will hold a short press conference when we leave so that the vultures have something to eat."

Press conference.

"Hello everybody, I will give a brief statement and will answer a few questions. Then I hope that you will let me and my family in peace as we mourn the death of my ex-wife. […]

Back at the 12th precinct, Beckett, Ryan, Esposito and several other detectives were watching the press conference and listening as Castle recounted the happenings of the previous days.

"So, that's what happened. Now I will take some questions."

[…]

"Rick, what do you say about the statements Captain Gates' made about you?"

"I have no other comment than to say that the Captain is allowed her personal opinion. I want to make it absolutely clear, that I hold no ill-will against either the DA office or the detectives from the 12th precinct. In fact, I commend them. They didn't give me a pass just because they knew me. They did their jobs and followed procedure as they have sworn to do. However, at this point I want to thank Detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan for their loyalty and friendship in the face of adversity. They believed in my innocence despite the evidence and I will always be grateful for that. And last but not least, I want to thank Special Agent Jordan Shaw and her team from the FBI for listening to my side of the story after I had surrendered to them and bringing the killer of my ex-wife and several other people to justice. Thank you."

The various members of the 12th precinct reacted differently to the press conference. Some were glad that their friend was proven to be innocent, some were angry that he had made fools out of them and some were looking strangely at Beckett. Nobody had missed the fact that Castle had thanked the male detectives, but not her. Not Beckett who was his muse, the reason why the writer actually had come to their precinct, his close friend and if rumors were too believed even more. However, Richard Castle has just virtually slapped the detective, his muse, on national TV. And he'd done it by not mentioning her at all.

After the Castle's got home, Rick started to organize Gina's funeral. Gina had been an only child and her parents had died in a car accident a couple of years back. As she had been a very career driven woman, Gina had only made few real friendships. Therefore she had asked Castle to stay on as her next of kin after their divorce and to be the executor of her will. She had even asked him to do so after their failed second try.

The day of the funeral had arrived and Castle sat in the front row and listened to the priest. As per Gina's wishes, her funeral was a private affair with only the Castle's, her closest friends and some colleagues in attendance. Two of those friends were Mayor Robert Weldon and his wife Clara, who had become friends with Gina during her marriage to Castle.

Castle had known that the media would try to get some pictures of the mourner, especially himself and his family. He had made no further public appearance after his release from the hospital and had not spoken to many people outside his family and some friends. He had dodged or ignored all calls, texts or mails from people he deemed nuisances, including the ones from Gates and Beckett. He knew that he would have to deal with them soon. But for now, he wanted to mourn his friend in peace.

Castle let his thoughts wander to the past: his first meeting with Gina, their first date, their marriage. It had been a beautiful ceremony and Gina had been gorgeous bride. Despite his own claims, he truly had loved Gina, but had not been in love with her. They had some good times, some not so good times and some bad times. She could be a pain in the ass, especially in her role as his publisher. But they had made a good team and she had been one reason of his writing success. And for that he would forever be grateful. Castle gathered his thoughts as he stood and made his way to give his eulogy.

A/N: Just to make sure that there are now surprises going forward: as I know that I have readers who haven't actually seen all Castle episodes, I'm going to continue to write flashbacks and detailed description of some episodes – although I will alter some of them fit my story. Going forward I will also incorporate more and more parts of TheBlackhandHand724 stories on which I have based this fic.